Seeking: Homegrown Photos
The Homegrown Music Festival is seeking photos from the 2012 festival for use in the Field Guide. Large, print quality photos, please – most camera phone photos are not going to cut it.
Please send photos / more information / mailing address for discs: transistormag [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thank you, fans!
Indoor Walking Options in Duluth
Duluth Skywalk system map.
A recent request that came Perfect Duluth Day’s way via Facebook from a visitor to town was for information and links on indoor walking options. There are a handful of options that will be obvious to people familiar with Duluth, but perhaps there are some less-obvious examples that will be shared in the comments.
- Duluth Skywalk System
- Miller Hill Mall
- Mariner Mall (Superior)
- University of Minnesota Duluth
- Essentia Health (Duluth medical campus)
The first three are probably the best if you don’t want to ram into people and like shopping options along the way.
The Skywalk, UMD and Essentia are the best for seeing daylight during your indoor walk.
UMD is the best one for the possibility of getting lost or plowing into someone who is rushing through the crowd to get to class.
Water-smoothed Rocks at Brighton Beach
Mary Amerman of Duluth won the grand prize in Lake Superior Magazine’s 18th annual Lake Superior Photo Contest. Her photo of the water-smoothed rocks on Duluth’s Brighton Beach was one of 1,284 images entered in the contest from 138 different cities, in 18 states, one U.S. Territory (Guam) and Canada.
Duluthian Kenji Ogura won first place in the Artsy/Altered category with a photograph of the weekly regatta. All the winners and finalists are featured in a gallery on lakesuperior.com.
This week: stallion hearts, cariboo and the Blue Danube
Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.
February is a lot of things… Black History Month, the shortest month of the year, the month that makes you seriously reconsider your life choices. Add to the list a month for giving books to children. There is a book drive going on all month and a “beer for books” reading at Carmody next week.
Tuesday the Chamber of Commerce is having a lunch panel at Midi on using social media as a tool, which would be a refreshing change from using social media like a tool.
Two plays open this week. Renegade Theater‘s Coronado, a voyeuristic drama about conversations in a bar, opens Thursday at the Teatro Zuccone and runs three weekends. Cariboo Magi, about four Californians trying to make it to the promised land of Canada, opens Friday at the CSS Little Theater and runs two weekends.
Nerd Nite moves to the Play Ground this Friday with its sometimes monthly presentations on nerdy topics. This time around we hear about Arthurian women, the cuisine of Game of Thrones, and the Raspberry PI.
The DSSO performs a concert of dance music paired with movie clips on Saturday at the DECC. Expect scenes from “An American in Paris,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Also, the YMCA is now offering children’s activities and a meal while parents go to the symphony, including a 25% discount on symphony tickets.
Ever go to a comedy improv show and say, “Hell, I could do that?” Prove it. Auditions for Renegade Improv are this coming Sunday at the Teatro Zuccone.
So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know!
The Perilous Inlet
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7rTiTQI5N0
Three years in the making, the completed 14-minute masterpiece.
I suggest watching it with the sound off since we could not eliminate the camera noise without losing the underwater noises.
The perilous inlet is a death trap for ships and subs, yet life continues. Starring Playmobil toys, G.I. Joes, and introducing Lake Superior as itself.
We’ve released this in segments over time, so if you’re sick of it do NOT watch this final edit. Featuring the Playmobil ship vs. the giant alligator, the Playmobil sub vs. the giant squid, and the GI Joes vs. frozen existential horror, now with more death.
Cult – Feature film to be shot in Duluth
Hi, my name is Lance Karasti. I’m currently working on a feature film about an extremist cult that is manipulated by their insane leader into performing a group suicide. Two of the members try to stop it and break down how things got that bad. The film examines many themes, and is a character study of the cult leader. (more…)
Best Duluth Internet Provider?
Since Charter just jacked up its rates for cable Internet from $35 to nearly $50/mo., I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a good high-speed internet provider that does not require a land-line phone. I need the service at my home for my laptop PC.
Does anyone else miss…
the good old days when you could run the gauntlet on PDD?
Vietnamese Lotus Inn closing
The Vietnamese Lotus Inn will close on Saturday, Feb. 2. It almost lasted 10 years, having opened at 1314 Commonwealth Ave. in the summer of 2003.
GPS Instruction
Is anyone out there savvy with a Garmin? This fella needs some instruction and he’s looking to hire someone to walk him through his device.
Are Duluth schools really this stupid?
The school just called my wife to come and pick up our 5th grade son. Why?
He pretended to shoot someone with his finger! Remember when you were a kid and you would point at a playmate and say bang? If you do this now, in Duluth, you get suspended. Really? Is there a list of gestures published by the school board that will result in getting kicked out of school?
New old Nordic ski trails at Spirit Mountain
Have you checked out the newly redone cross country ski trails at Spirit Mountain? Thanks to a lot of hard volunteer work, the trails have been redesigned and brought back to life.
Lots of details at my Best North Shore blog.
Where in Duluth? — Some easy ones
From time to time on PDD we like to play a little game called “Where in Duluth?” The first person to name the location of the photo wins bragging rights.
Since this one is so easy, it will be followed up in the comments with a few more easy ones, because it just seems like the right thing to do.
Office Supply Scams
I thought these scams went away years ago but I guess not.
I answer the phone a lot for the small company I work for, and in the past couple of months we have gotten about three different phone calls asking about refilling our copier supplies. We like to do business locally, and I know our supplier personally so I knew these people weren’t legit. But I thought I’d share it with all of you so you don’t get taken by this scam.
When they called our office they tried to talk to me like they knew me, then said, “Can we get the model number of your printer we misplaced it?” I then asked, “May I ask who’s calling?” and one caller actually said, “I’m your worst nightmare, B!&$h” Then hung up. While entertaining, still somewhat scary.
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Concerns surrounding the American Indian Community Housing Organization
I am a community member of the Duluth area and I wanted to voice a couple of things that have been concerning me as well as some things that have been brought to my attention surrounding the American Indian Community Housing Organization.
I know that the community was really excited when AICHO’s Gimaajii Building at 202 W. Second St. opened this past spring. I had very high hopes as to what this venue could do for the people, especially the urban Native Americans within Duluth.
As time has passed and the excitement and buzz about what this “could” be has since faded, I have heard from several current and former tenants of the Gimaajii Building that they have felt there is a lack of spiritual understanding from many of the staff members including the current executive director. They have felt that anything “cultural” that has taken place there has been more for show than for the people it serves.
(more…)
“Parr flexes songwriting muscles that few artists ever attain.”
This week in City Pages reporter Natalie Gallagher talks to Duluth’s Charlie Parr about his new album Barnswallow.
The 1962 UWS Football Squad
Today on PDD we present the 1962 gridders from the “Wisconsin State College Superior,” now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Why? Well the fine folks at UWS’ Jim Dan Hill Library have digitized copies of the Gitchee Gumee, the college’s yearbook — from its inception in 1909 through 1972, when it ceased publication.
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This week: smoothies, skating, skiing and bad fashion
Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.
Today you can learn about making healthy smoothies at the library, of all places. This is part of their Cabin Fever Reliever series.
On Wednesday there’s free open skating at the Duluth Heritage Sports Center for those who want to be active indoors and a Headlamp Ski Tour at Hartley and a Night Ski Race at Spirit Mountain for those who want to be active outdoors.
The Northland Figure Skating Competition will be at the Amsoil Arena Thursday through Sunday with hundreds competing individually and in teams.
Awesome Fest (“You have to be awesome.”) is a weekend long celebration of outdoor winter sports, indoor winter drinking, bad fashion, good music, and more. It runs Friday through Sunday at Mont du Lac.
And on Sunday there’s this football game and I hear tell some people are having parties because of it.
So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know!
Bookoo.com
Has anyone around here heard of a site called Bookoo? It appears to have a Craigslist feel to it, yet a closer look at the site tells me the buyers and sellers have some account ability similar to eBay.
Over the summer I was in desperate need of a transmission. I found one on Craigslist, met the guy at Dunn Bros., he being from Two Harbors and me from Superior. It was likely the only time I’d ever deal with this guy — clearly I’m buying as is. I gave him $250 in exchange for a hunk of metal he said ran before he pulled it out. The gamble paid off and the transmission works to this day. It seems to me that had I bought it from him off of Bookoo and it didn’t work I would be able to warn others of the gentleman’s bad dealings. I think I’ll sign the petition. Will you, my neighbor, join me at the world’s funniest yard sale?
Vacant houses in your neighborhood?
With the ongoing foreclosure crisis and rotten economy, there are lots of properties in Duluth sitting vacant, often leading to vandalism and neighborhood blight. In the meantime, more Duluthians than ever are suffering homelessness.
Loaves & Fishes and Project Save Our Homes are looking for help to identify vacant houses in the Duluth area, particularly bank-owned foreclosures. We will be using this information to push for policy changes to protect neighborhoods and address the problem of homes without people and people without homes. Any information would be helpful: addresses of course, but also if you know how long the house has been vacant (condemnation/eviction/foreclosure notice are usually posted on the door), if utilities are connected… and if you might help organize your neighbors to address the problem! Contact us by Facebook or email: projectsaveourhomes@gmail.com.
I had a dream last night
I was in a cathedral, standing in the nave. The pews were empty, the building dark. It must have been night. Without warning, a choir’s song sliced through the hushed darkness, their voices intertwining to illuminate the room – a bright, pure light. I could see their faces, one thousand beautiful children, dressed in white. I stood there motionless, enraptured by their song, their words washing over me. The tune was bracingly enigmatic, yet hauntingly familiar – they sung a single phrase over and over:
Vincent Gargiulo is horrible. (more…)
Gage Salyards’ Healing Journey
Duluth photographer Gage Salyards is battling papillary thyroid cancer, but he still has plans to study with one of the most famous and renowned travel photographers on the planet, Trey Ratcliff, in New Zealand. Obviously all of his financial resources of late have been invested into regaining his health, so he’s doing what all the artsy folks are doing these days and reaching out to the Internet for help.
See his gofundme.com campaign to make a donation, and check out his portfolio and more information about his photography at eyeamgage.com.
His workshop begins on Feb 6, so the clock is ticking. As of this posting he is 3/4 of the way to his $10,000 goal.
Cold weather experiments at Great Lakes Aquarium
We’ve been conducting a variety of cold weather experiments at Great Lakes Aquarium this week. The location is just about perfect for it; right on the waterfront in Duluth with a door connecting our classroom lab to the outside.
This video should serve as a reminder to make sure your hair and your clothes are completely dry before heading out.